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Light aircraft crash Leigh Creek

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Old 7th Jul 2019, 14:02
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The images I've just seen shows there was no fire. Not much left of the aircraft. Quite sad.
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Old 7th Jul 2019, 14:16
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wouldn't surprise me if he didn't have full fuel out of WMC due cost of it there. I have been to both WMC and LCK many times and the latter is substantially cheaper than the former. About a year ago was $3 odd / lt so wouldn't be any cheaper now. Plus limited supplies at times out there too. Common practice to just tske enough plus reserves to get to next refuelling point.
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Old 7th Jul 2019, 14:49
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The frustrating thing I found last year flying from Carrapateena over to Leigh Ck in the dark was that the PAALC does not give a confirmation response upon activation. Common problem with the older units and something I asked to be raised st the MOS139 review. The only clue I had that the lights were activated before my arrival was the white beacon which I could see from about 30nm.
gives weight to the argument of having a responsible person on the ground to manually turn the lights on.
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Old 7th Jul 2019, 20:55
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Originally Posted by mostlytossas
wouldn't surprise me if he didn't have full fuel out of WMC due cost of it there. I have been to both WMC and LCK many times and the latter is substantially cheaper than the former. About a year ago was $3 odd / lt so wouldn't be any cheaper now. Plus limited supplies at times out there too. Common practice to just tske enough plus reserves to get to next refuelling point.
Empty weight ~370kg. Full fuel would be overweight for sure if there was any decent baggage and equipment on board.
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Old 7th Jul 2019, 22:23
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Originally Posted by cowl flaps
Yeah,- I just tried to find the media article regarding the fuel, and it's not there anymore.
Is this the bit you were looking for? "The Advertiser understands they had been staying at Marree and flew over Lake Eyre before refuelling at William Creek."

DF.
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Old 7th Jul 2019, 22:45
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Originally Posted by YPJT
The frustrating thing I found last year flying from Carrapateena over to Leigh Ck in the dark was that the PAALC does not give a confirmation response upon activation. Common problem with the older units and something I asked to be raised st the MOS139 review. The only clue I had that the lights were activated before my arrival was the white beacon which I could see from about 30nm.
gives weight to the argument of having a responsible person on the ground to manually turn the lights on.
In light of (no pun intended) your concerns about the PAALC & also those of Obidiah then clearly something has to be done to rectify the problem.

DF.
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Old 7th Jul 2019, 23:04
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Just watched a segment on the Today Show about the crash, & they're putting the time at 6:20PM. That pretty much ties in with the pager message I got at 6:27PM because I hadn't long got back inside before it went off.

DF.
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 00:24
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Originally Posted by Squawk7700


Empty weight ~370kg. Full fuel would be overweight for sure if there was any decent baggage and equipment on board.
Yes - with the full fuel load of 130L, it would likely be over, but what if they only loaded fuel to bring it up to MTOW? MTOW = 600 kg, probable BEW = 370, and lets assume the pilot was 90 kg and pax 60 kg, and they had 20 kgs extras in back. ZFW = 540.

So, based on what my identical Brumby 610 requires, you could then fit 60 kgs of fuel into it = 80L. Divide this by an average burn of 18LPH for a 90-95 KTAS cruise, and you should have an endurance of 270 mins ex William Creek. For a distance of 148nm, based on an average cruise of 90 kts, the required cruise time is 1:39 for a fuel consumption of 30L. In the prevailing 'westerley' wx, a Brumby 610 was more likely to achieve 100+ on that track. By my calcs, there could have been as much as 50L in the tanks - always provided that they left William Creek with a max allowable fuel load.

It's likely there are many lessons to be re-learned from this accident. I hope that RAAus determine all immediately relevant factors, and informs the pilot community as soon as they are able.
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 01:52
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Originally Posted by poteroo
It's likely there are many lessons to be re-learned from this accident. I hope that RAAus determine all immediately relevant factors, and informs the pilot community as soon as they are able.
Probably not...They're too busy handing out their members private details to airfield operators...

RAAus seem to have the mindset that they know what is important to learn from an accident and only disclose that, if they say anything at all...
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 02:55
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Why were they flying so close to last light or after it? RAAus aircraft are allowed to fly day VFR only regardless what equipment or lights are fitted.
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 05:15
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Originally Posted by KRviator
Probably not...They're too busy handing out their members private details to airfield operators...

RAAus seem to have the mindset that they know what is important to learn from an accident and only disclose that, if they say anything at all...
The swipe about the landing fees is a back-handed comment that has no bearing on this discussion.

RAAus don’t have the legislative powers, unlimited government funds or the staff to provide full analysis of the incidents. They also don’t have the protection from the act around information disclosure. They assist the police with the investigation.. have you ever tried to get information from the police about car crashes and what caused them??

They would if they could, but the simple fact remains that they can’t.

Pilots make mistakes, they are only human. In this case, prevention and improved training may have been the better course of action rather than injecting valuable funds into crash analysis.

Nobody has come up with a new way to crash an aircraft in the last 50 years, so we know what causes crashes; it’s just a matter of educating pilots into making better planning and operational decisions.
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 05:16
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Originally Posted by zanthrus
Why were they flying so close to last light or after it? RAAus aircraft are allowed to fly day VFR only regardless what equipment or lights are fitted.
The exact same thing could have happened to a GA registered aircraft. The aircraft registration has nothing to do with the outcome.

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Old 8th Jul 2019, 05:25
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Agree with Squawk.
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 05:55
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Originally Posted by Squawk7700
The swipe about the landing fees is a back-handed comment that has no bearing on this discussion.
Only partially correct...Yes, an indirect swipe at RAAus management, but...If RAAus were more concerned with their members wellbeing, instead of selling their details, RAAus would put more emphasis into accident mitigation, even if only using overseas reports as an example. Excerpts from AC43.13 in Sport Pilot, synopses from overseas accidents, 'Rulebook review' column-inches on a regular basis, and we might - and I stress might - not have what appears to be another RAAus pilot, in another RAAus registered aircraft spearing in after last light.

It is all well and good to say that "this could have happened to a GA pilot" and yes, you are correct, it could have. It didn't. But after that idiot left Temora for Coota in a trike after last light, we have another apparently similar prang in relatively quick succession. Beyond the bloke in the R44 up north that made the ATSB reports, I'm not aware of any similar GA accidents recently. Given the relative proportion of RAAus to GA one can only wonder why that is?
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 05:56
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EVERY single plane crash is human error in one form or another, do we learn from each one? Nope, that's the saddest part:-(
I've always said it's too easy to get a pilots certificate in any of it's forms, we pay for that 'easy' access but it's still a personnel choice to push the envelope!
I feel bad for the innocent women here, she had zero control over her life once they left the ground:-) RIP. As for the pilot? we will never know sadly:-(
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 06:32
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You would need to account for levels of activity before anyone can make comparisons of GA and RAA accident rates.

Then there is the question of certified vs. uncertified aircraft.

Deal with those before making wild statements about the RAA.

Then there is the question of the Aristocratic principle. It is easier for a complete idiot to buy a trike - by definition the idiot can’t make enough money to buy a Bonanza. So what do you expect to have the higher accident rate? Unfortunately I have recent tragic experience of this in action.

A corollary to that is that if you make flying expensive enough, there will be fewer accidents of any sort.

I fail to see any factual base to statements like “GA is safer”, etc. etc.


I don’t think RAA pilots value their lives any less than GA pilots and I cannot think of any training difference that would automatically result in a higher accident rate. As Squawk implied , the basics are pretty simple.

To put that another way, I do not consider my training as a GA pilot makes me somehow safer than a similarly motivated RAA pilot.



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Old 8th Jul 2019, 06:50
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Originally Posted by KRviator
Only partially correct...Yes, an indirect swipe at RAAus management, but...If RAAus were more concerned with their members wellbeing, instead of selling their details, RAAus would put more emphasis into accident mitigation, even if only using overseas reports as an example. Excerpts from AC43.13 in Sport Pilot, synopses from overseas accidents, 'Rulebook review' column-inches on a regular basis, and we might - and I stress might - not have what appears to be another RAAus pilot, in another RAAus registered aircraft spearing in after last light.

It is all well and good to say that "this could have happened to a GA pilot" and yes, you are correct, it could have. It didn't. But after that idiot left Temora for Coota in a trike after last light, we have another apparently similar prang in relatively quick succession. Beyond the bloke in the R44 up north that made the ATSB reports, I'm not aware of any similar GA accidents recently.
I fail to see how RAAus providing contact details to airport owners to collect landing fees has any bearing whatsoever on this accident or others. If anything, the collection of fees may assist airport operators in providing better equipment for their visiting pilots like AFRU, papi, pal and the like.

But after that idiot left Temora for Coota in a trike after last light, we have another apparently similar prang in relatively quick succession.
That was in April 2012, some 6 plus years ago.

Given the relative proportion of RAAus to GA one can only wonder why that is?
Can you tell I what those proportions are and comparison of hours flown?

Last edited by Squawk7700; 8th Jul 2019 at 07:01.
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 10:14
  #58 (permalink)  
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Originally Posted by mostlytossas
wouldn't surprise me if he didn't have full fuel out of WMC due cost of it there. I have been to both WMC and LCK many times and the latter is substantially cheaper than the former. About a year ago was $3 odd / lt so wouldn't be any cheaper now. Plus limited supplies at times out there too. Common practice to just tske enough plus reserves to get to next refuelling point.
Just watched a 7news video where it said he bought $50.00 worth of "petrol" at YWMC. Now if it was $3.00 per litre that's 16 litres!!! Apparently he also picked up fuel at YMRE before that but quantity unknown

DF.

Last edited by Desert Flower; 8th Jul 2019 at 10:38. Reason: Change info regarding fuel at YMRE.
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 13:09
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The aircraft is pictured in here complete with photo of the dash on page 36. Looks to have a Dynon or similar.

https://issuu.com/raaus/docs/sportpi...final_web/1?ff
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Old 8th Jul 2019, 13:56
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I only fly GA aircraft so don't know much about RAA type other than look at a few. From what I can see from that booklet the Brumby does not appear to have a landing light. Also does it have 2 tanks or just 1 behind the seats like some of them. Reason I ask is if just 1 the pilot would not have known he was fuel critical until it was all over given that aircraft fuel guages are usually unreliable. If no landing light to go with that what chance would he have had out in the bush on a dark night to force land? None I would suggest.
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